After the Fall
by The Golden Pantaloons
Summary: Following the events of DA2, a look at Cassius Hawke and his companions in their efforts to evade the Templars. Starts along the Wounded Coast and we'll see where they go from there.


**Alright, I obviously don't write a lot of fanfiction, but I was tired of studying for all my midterms and needed to write something that wasn't my original fiction ;)**  
><strong>So this is just following my main Hawke after the end of DA2, has a bit of M!HawkeFenris at the end, so if that's not your thing look away?  
>Oh! And I know the title is a Two Steps From Hell song, I'm just bad at title's and couldn't think of anything, well, good XD<strong>

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><p>Soft light breaking through tattered cloth and the sound of men bickering quietly. Cassius rubbed the stubble ten days too long in the making and wished the sun had just stayed down so he'd have a good enough excuse to follow its example. Slowly, he stretched; popping all the joints that needed popping, before pasting a lopsided grin on his face and stepping outside to find Varric and Fenris playing Diamondback. How they'd managed to find a deck while fleeing from Kirkwall, Cassius would never know.<p>

He stopped to squint at the sun reflecting _very_ brightly on the sea.

"Still not all there Hawke?"

"No, I haven't had my favorite breakfast of _nothing_ yet Varric. You know that makes me testy." It was a tired imitation of Cassius' usual tone, but they had stopped caring days ago.

Varric chuckled and glanced down at his cards before throwing them down with a sigh. Fenris lowered his as well and pointedly looked out to the horizon rather than at Hawke. After the initial flight from the Gallows and a single chaotic night of trying to get as far from sodding Kirkwall as possible, he seemed to have been having second thoughts about helping the mages. Cassius didn't really blame him.

"So Aveline and Isabela still haven't come back?" Cassius finally asked, more to break the awkward quiet than needing an answer. His watch had been three hours ago after all.

"I'd say give it another couple of days. It's going to be like a disturbed hive of bees for a while. And they'll have to be careful. Our companions, us in general, are rather…distinctive looking."

"That's one way of putting it," Fenris muttered as he stood. "I'm going to see if the others need any assistance."

Cassius was about to ask if he'd like any company but the elf had already started to walk down the sandy hill towards the small stream. The words died on his tongue and he clenched his fist tightly. At least his dog still loved him. Said dog noticed the change of seating and took the opportunity to snuggle up to his master, becoming a rather comfortable, if foul smelling, arm rest in exchange for a scratch between the ears.

"It's amazing really," Varric mused as he began to shuffle the cards, 'tsking' at the site of a tear in one.

Stifling a yawn, Cassius decided to play the banter game. Just for something familiar to do. "What is? The dark circles under my eyes? The smell? The wild growth of facial hair? You must be specific Varric, I have _a lot_ of amazing things."

"Hey now, that fluff on your chin is nothing compared to this." He pulled back his coat to gesture at the fabled chest hair. "But I was actually talking about how brooding seems to be contagious. The elf's even got you moping up a storm. It works better for him though. I really think you should stop."

Cassius couldn't think of anything clever to say back. It wasn't fair really. He _had _just woken up. "I'm not brooding."

Varric raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

Unable to think of anything else to talk about, Cassius stood and asked, "I'm going to check the snares, want to come?"

"That's alright Hawke. I think I'd rather stay here and hold the fort. Too many hills. You understand."

"Completely. Try not to burn the hut down while I'm away, and make sure the children behave." Cassius smirked as he pulled his bow and quiver out of their cache, checking to make sure the string was actually still sound.

"You know them. I can't make any promises."

Laughing, Cassius gave a wave before whistling to the dog and starting the long trek back into the hills. If he tried hard enough while out alone, he could almost imagine he was hunting back in Fereldan. The area around the Wounded Coast was nothing like the wilds near Lothering, but it would have to do. The way he walked began to change, becoming light and quiet, hardly leaving any tracks. Of course it was just to make himself feel better as he had a giant, slobbering dog behind him to scare anything away.

After over an hour of walking, sandy paths gave way to soil and trees began to stand tall over the underbrush. Cassius straightened his back and paused. It had been nearly a day since he set the snares and he didn't think he quite remembered where they all were. Sucking on his cheek he finally recalled at least one line and twisted through the dense bushes.

Nothing. Nothing. A nothing that had broken the twine… Finally one scrawny rabbit. And the rest of the traps he could recall the place of had nothing. With a sigh Cassius stared balefully at the small body before looking down at Fen'Harel (Merrill had giggled herself into a fit when she'd heard that for the first time) who was watching his master with pitiful hopefulness.

Considering the stringy rabbit, Cassius tossed it down with a pained smile. "I suppose we'll just have to try our luck at collecting shellfish today." The mabari was happy about that decision at least, wagging his nub of a tail the whole way back to camp.

Cassius was greeted by Bethany, and the sight of her ragged robes filled him with guilt. If only there had been some way to stop the fighting, if only he'd known what Anders had been up to. He shook his head, no point drowning in 'if's and 'maybe's now, he'd been doing such a good job of ignoring them.

"Brother…" she sighed and leaned against him as they walked the short ways back to the others. "Nothing again today?"

"Well…"

"Well?"

"There was something, but I thought the dog might enjoy it more."

Bethany moved away, a barely perceptible rejection, but a rejection nonetheless. "I wish we'd brought something with us."

"Like uncle Gamlen's moldy cheese wheel?"

Cassius was relieved when his sister laughed. "Yes, even that would have been nice. I wonder how he's doing?"

"Oh I'm sure he's his usual disgusting self."

They rounded the corner to see two elves and a dwarf playing cards, the dwarf winning of course. Cassius rolled his eyes and asked, "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Not really, no," Merrill replied happily before peering at the dog's bloody muzzle. "Our Dread Wolf caught something?"

"Ah, yes. You see… Who wants to go wading around in the tide pools?" Cassius hoped Bethany wouldn't tell on him.

Varric smirked. "I volunteer the elf."

Fenris looked at him sharply as Bethany and Merrill agreed with Varric quickly. For the first time in days, Fenris met Cassius' eyes with a look of dismay and resignation. "Very well."

Offering a hand that was refused, Cassius said, "Alright, if Isabela and Aveline show up you have to come get us. We should be _a lot_ further from Kirkwall than we are."

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><p>The path down was rough enough that it didn't afford the time to talk, for that Cassius was not sure if he was glad or disappointed. They then picked their way over the rocky shore, wordlessly boosting, supporting and stopping the other from slipping. Finally Cassius couldn't bear that the only sound was waves and gulls. "It's been a while since it's been just the two of us huh?"<p>

"Yes."

"Don't feel like talking?"

"Not really."

Stopping to stand on a boulder, Cassius wiped the sweat from his brow and gazed at the elf out the corner of his eye. Fenris' expression was only a slight frown as he stared at the water.

"Do you feel like crab or oyster today?"

"It doesn't matter."

In time the small pools of water dotting the rocks came into view, and Cassius slid down to see what there was. With a cackle of delight he pulled the sack out of his belt and began to carefully throw the little brown crabs into it. After a moment he realized Fenris wasn't helping—_at all_.

"Are you just going to stand there staring at my ass?"

That brought forth a small smile as Fenris bent down beside Hawke. "There's not much to look at."

Cassius watched the dark hands lined in white skillfully seize the crabs. He wanted to reach out and hold one fondly like they once had. Not so long now, but it felt like forever to the affection starved Champion.

The lulling of constant waves put Hawke into a trancelike state that was only broken when he carelessly got himself pinched. Grimacing at the offending crab, he decided that was enough for the day. He touched Fenris' shoulder lightly, the elf straightening with a roll of his shoulders.

"Walk in the sand?"

"Sure."

This time they ambled along, not really desiring to be back at camp, talking about all they things they _should_ be doing rather than what they _wanted_ to do. Hawke delighted in walking barefoot, feeling the sand sucked and swirled around his toes by the water. Maybe the elves had a point with their lack of shoes and all. Sure it was cold, but he was Fereldan. They were used to cold…and mud.

Fenris cleared his throat, and Cassius thought he might say something. The pause lengthened, growing more and more awkward. Cassius would have spoken, but he was bad at articulating what was really on his mind. Witticisms sure, he could banter all day. But something so simple as saying, "I need a hug." That was hard.

Eventually, they returned without having discussed anything that needed discussing. The crabs were prepared along with some tubers that Merrill had found. They played Diamondback again and took turns on watch.

It was only at the barest hint of dawn, with faint orange on the horizon, that Cassius was blearily shocked out of his watch.

The sound of hunting horns. Someone was coming.


End file.
